The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1887-08-10
A PROMINENT CITIZEN OF MEy-
ERSpALE DEAD.
M. Reese Dill Expires on the oper.
ating Table

A PROMINENT CITIZEN OF MEY-
ERSDALE DEAD.
M. Reese Dill Expires on the Oper.
atine Table
A teiegrasn received in somerse. Friday
morning Announcing the ssuislen and unex-
! pszciesi death IT Mr. III Reese Dill, psonli-
neni and popal4r citizen Of Meysrsfaie, al
Philadelphia where be bad gone ~ have an
operation performed, was great shock 10
! his many friends in this place The follow
/ ing account of his death Is taken from the
/ Philadelphia Tis.es Of Friday
/ Unifel States Marshal Andrew H. Dill lei
I this city few minutes before II clock yes
day morning for his home in Lewisburg, |
/ bearing with him the body OF his brother
1 Melville Reese Dill. a prominent basines
man of Somerset county, who died under
ether at the Bingham House late on We'd
nes.iav afternoon He had come to the city |
on Tuesday from his home 81 MeyersdaIe,
Somerset county, 10 undergo an operation /
by Or. d. Hayes Agnew for the removal of
hemorrhoids, from which be had suffered /
{
by Or. Agnew year ago for fssure. An
operation was performed and the patient ex-
perienced no bad effect from the ether which .
WAS administered. m
DR.. Agnew had made an appointment with |
Mr.. Dill for two O'Clock on Wednesday af- /
ternoon and went 10 the hotel at the tisne |
agreed upon accompanied By DR.. J. William /
White. who has been mis- surgical assistant ]
for many years. They commenced work I
about half an hour later. The patient was
laid upon a table in his room and DIR. W hife 1
administered the aHsesthefie. The ether used 1
was known as Sqibb's, and is considered 4
the best and purest made. IL was admins /
tered in the usual way, from towel folded /
in the shape Of cone. In few moments +
Mr. Dill became unconscious, and DR.. Ag 1
new began the operation. After the first
hemorrhoid had been tied and while the sec
ond was being operated upon respiration
suddenly ceased. Both physicians Ut once
turned their attention 70 restoring the pa
tent Artificial respiration was employed 4
electricity was used the body was fiagelated 1
with wet towels. and all the usual methods
to resusciiate were used While the patient
had ceased TO breathe the heart continued To
beat and the physicians worked Rnsiringly
until all hope was gone.
Dr. Agnew said Ia a reporter yesterday af-
ternoon that in his experience Of 40 years a.
physician and surgeon he had administer
ed. ether in thousands of cases and never
had an accident before. He considered ether
the best and safest anasthetic known and
said that the patients sudden death was
something that no human foresight or care
could have avoided. DR. White was much
distressed over The affair and stated that this
was the first instance in his practice that
the administration of ether had terminated
fatally
THE SURGEONS STATEMENT.
A Tiaaes reporter saw both DIR. Agnew and
Dr. White together yesterday afternoon and
from them received this statement of the
case: Mr. Dill had been successfully opera
ted upon BY Dr. Agnew one year ago for
fssure He took ether at that time His
suiferings for some months had impera;ively
demanded an operation there was no other
way of relieving him. The operation was
impossible without an anaesthetic the SAT
est known anaesthesic was selected and was
given in unusually moderate quantity. less
than six ounces having been administered al
together. II WAS given in the usual way,
and one which has been employed by Dr.
Agnew and Dr. White in hundreds Of eases
for many years without an accident of any
kind. The etherization was sufficiently CON-
plete in from ten to fifteen minutes to adj
init Of his being placed in the proper posi-
ton and the operation was begun. Within
a lew minutes he suddenly ceased breathing,
having been breathing freely moment be-
fore. He was al once turned on his back,
his tongue brought forward, his thnDaf ex-
Piored for possible obstruction, movements
Of artificial respiration begun hagellation
and cold wet towels employed, upward fric
iion OF the limbs used, electricity applied
and the usual methods of resuscitation put
into operation, but without effect Although
his heart continued TO beat for thirty or for
~ minutes ii was impossible TO bring about
the natural movements of Breathing, al
t.iough efforts at resUscitation were kept up
dnremittingiy for an hour, or for some time
after the heart ceased 70 beat. IL is evident
in this case that death was not from heart
failure. Indeed his heart was carefully ex-
aminel before the etberization was begun.
il was probably due 10 some toxic action of
the ether on the nerve centre which governs
respiration or may possibly have been due
to rupture Of blood vessel of the medulla
oblongata affecting that centre, or again may
have occurred through reflex action intin-
eneing the same portion of the brain. In
either Of these events the physicians felt that
the condition was one which il was abso-
lutely impossible for any human foresight to
have recognized The proportion OF deaths
that occur during etherization Is variously
estimated from in ! I.05e TO l in 9O,0c0 cases
the actual average probably lying between
the two. and have happened in the practice
af the most distinguished surgeons Of all
countries, although this was the first instance
of the kind in the experience Of Dr. Agnew
or Dr. White
MARSHAL pu.Ls DISTRESS